"Writers live as the work dictates, a solitary, sometimes deeply frustrating life, with moments of secret joy when the sentence hits the note, gets the meaning exactly as required."



For over five decades, Evelyn Conlon has reveled in the secret joy of writing and in the power of a well-crafted story. Hers has been a life of literature, travel and of challenging authority, including campaigning for women's reproductive rights in Ireland and for an end to the death penalty in the US.



Reading Rites offers the reader an unflinching and unapologetic account of a woman happily perched on the outside of society. Witty, humorous and always honest, it is an insight into one of Ireland's finest and most compelling storytellers, and the personal, cultural and political forces that have made her the writer she is.